Avery Dennison to acquire Smartrac’s RFID inlay business

Monday 09 December 2019

The Avery Dennison Corporation (Glendale, California) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Smartrac’s Transponder (RFID Inlay) Division, for the purchase price of €225M, subject to certain closing and post-closing adjustments. The division is a leader in the development and manufacture of RFID products, with 2019 estimated global revenue of approximately €125M, or approximately $140M, and approximately 900 employees.

“This acquisition reflects a continuation of our strategy to invest, both organically and through M&A, to shift our portfolio towards faster growing, higher value categories,” said Mitch Butier, Avery Dennison chairman, president and CEO. “Smartrac’s Transponder Division represents an excellent strategic fit for us, accelerating our strategy to expand our Intelligent Labels platform across a variety of end markets and customers within the industrial and retail segments, and extending our reach to new channels."

The combination creates a platform with over $450M in revenue offering long-term growth and profitability above the company average, with strong research and development capabilities, expanded product lines, and added manufacturing capacity.

“We believe in a future where every physical item will have a unique digital identity and digital life, which will transform the visibility of products throughout the supply chain, all the way to the consumer, helping to improve efficiencies, increase sustainability, and enhance consumer experience,” said Francisco Melo, vice president and general manager, intelligent labels for Avery Dennison. “The capabilities of Smartrac will enable us to continue delivering on this vision across multiple verticals.”

Smartrac’s CEO and chairman of the management board, Christian Uhl, added: “Our RFID transponder business is among the pioneers in the RFID industry, having built a very attractive product portfolio across a broad variety of customer needs and frequencies. The combination with Avery Dennison will help us to continue driving innovation that benefits our customers and the overall industry.”

Smartrac is headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The company has manufacturing facilities in Germany, Malaysia, China, and the United States.

The acquisition is expected to have an immaterial impact to the company’s adjusted earnings per share in 2020. Avery Dennison plans to fund the acquisition with existing cash and credit facilities, and expects the transaction to close in a few months, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.